Roberto Mancini bizarrely confesses he accidentally left Giorgio Chiellini on the bench for Italy’s draw with Bosnia as he didn’t have his glasses on: ‘It was my fault… they showed me the line-up and I just said it was fine’
- Roberto Mancini says he mistakenly left Giorgio Cheillini out of starting line-up
- Francesco Acerbi started instead after Mancini mis-read the teamsheet
- Mancini admitted that he wasn’t wearing his glasses when shown the lineup
Italy manager Roberto Mancini has revealed that he mistakenly didn’t start Giorgio Chiellini against Bosnia & Herzegovina as he didn’t have his glasses on.
The Italian media widely expected experienced Juventus defender Chiellini to start in the Nations League game in Florence.
However, to much surprise, Lazio’s Francesco Acerbi started instead as he won his seventh international cap.
Roberto Mancini has revealed that he accidentally left Giorigio Chiellini on the bench vs Bosnia
Francesco Acerbi (left) started instead of Chiellini (centre) after Mancini team-sheet error
Mancini revealed that, rather remarkably, he didn’t realise that Acerbi had been listed instead of Chiellini when he was shown the team-sheet prior to the game.
The 55-year-old admitted that Chiellini will now start Monday’s game away to the Netherlands instead.
As reported by Football Italia, Mancini said: ‘It was my fault.
‘They showed me the line-up, I didn’t have my glasses on and just said it was fine. I didn’t notice Acerbi was there rather than Chiellini.
Lazio defender Acerbi mistakenly started and Chiellini will now play v Holland on Monday
‘Anyway, we had planned originally for Acerbi to play one game and Chiellini another. I had asked Giorgio if he wanted to play today or on Monday with Holland, he said today, but we’ll have to swap it now.
‘It’s not like we chose a goalkeeper rather than a defender, it’s not a massive difference, but yes, it was an error.’
Bosnia took the lead in the 57th minute courtesy of Edin Dzeko.
However, Italy managed to get a point from proceedings, with Stefano Sensi scoring in the 67th minute.
The result saw Italy’s run of eleven successive victories come to an end.